Tour de Bikepath

It must have been in the 60s when I headed out from the hotel this morning. Whenever I ride somewhere with low humidity the air feels strange. And so it was this morning as I rode northwest down the Cherry Creek bike path toward downtown Denver. My plan was pretty flexible today, so I was really just playing by ear. This particular bike path was fairly nice, as bike paths go, although like most metro bike paths there were a lot of odd turns and twists, and not having ridden it before I figured I'd better take it fairly slow. Eventually I arrived at the end of the Cherry Creek path where it ran into the Platte River. Thanks to the map that Sriram, the rider I met at the Performance shop yesterday, had given me, I knew there was a long bike path that ran along the Platte, so I headed more or less south on that one. I was thinking that I could make a big loop of around 60 miles by connecting three of the bike paths.

All along the way there were other riders, mostly fitness/recreational types, but nonetheless their numbers were impressive. Since both bike paths ran along rivers, they were essentially flat. However, they are also fairly narrow. That one factor kept me from going very fast. I guess my typical speed was around 18 mph. Still, it was nice riding, and it was great to be able to avoid having to deal with traffic in an unfamiliar city. By the time I got to the end of the Platte River path, where it meets a big reservoir, I'd ridden maybe 45 miles.

Looking to the west, I could see that I was only a few miles from the mountains. Looking to the east was the endless expanse of Denver. Which way to go? Haha! It was not contest, of course. I figured I could afford a few extra miles, so naturally I headed north on the C470 path for a few miles. The whole time I'm riding up and down the long rollers alongside the mountains I'm wishing I could turn west and do some real climbing. By then, however, I'd already eaten my only powerbar, I was down to one bottle of water, and I was looking at a total ride distance of at least 65 miles, so I finally forced myself to make the U-turn and head back. I think I stopped three times over the next ten miles to check the map to make sure I hadn't gone astray. There were a number of other bike paths that met the C-470 path, and it wasn't always clear that I was heading the right way. Eventually I made it back to the hotel with around 67 miles on the computer. It was a satisfying ride -- quite a bit better than I'd been expecting.

I think I'll be able to get away tomorrow morning too, so maybe I'll ride over toward Golden and see what's brewing there.